OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 12/14/12 -- Public Safety Minister Vic Toews made the following statement after the Canada Border Services Agency announced today the removal of Luis Rodriguez Valdez, who was featured on the 'Wanted by the CBSA' List. Valdez is inadmissible to Canada for serious criminality for convictions outside of Canada. He was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse in California in 1993. He served a three-year prison sentence.

He was apprehended on December 5th by members of the West Kelowna RCMP First Nations in West Kelowna, British Colombia.

"I commend the efforts of the RCMP and the CBSA in the arrest and removal of this individual. Our government has been clear - we will continue to seek out those who try to enter or live here illegally. The safety and security of our citizens remains our primary concern, and to that end, we will identify, detain and remove individuals who jeopardize that safety."

This brings to 36 the total number of apprehensions from the "Wanted by the CBSA" list, launched in July 2011, and to 25 the total number of individuals removed from Canada. Five individuals have also been located abroad.